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The Government Paperwork Elimination Act directs federal agencies to offer people the option of submitting information electronically as of Oct. 23, 2003. Agencies are supposed to be able to accept electronic signatures and provide appropriate security for electronic information by then.

But in June, the Office of Management and Budget said fewer than half of federal agencies are on track to meet the 2003 deadline.

Although the National Institute of Standards and Technology's e-Approval project was not intended as a prototype for other agencies, a number of officials have expressed interest in its progress, said Kevin Inman, the project's director.

A two-year campaign that prompted the Department of Homeland Security to issue its first-ever emergency directive to agencies to shore up cyber defenses appears in part to have been an attempt to spy on U.S. government internet traffic.